Archive for July 2010

If you are looking for a good accomodation in Cape Town, I can recommend 17 on Loader. It is a small guest house near Waterfront and in an area with several restaurants. The guest house has a great sun deck with a view over Cape Town and to the Table Mountain.

If you are looking for a good accomodation in Centurion or Pretoria, I can recommend A Lala Lodge. It is located in Centurion. The rooms are nice and all rooms have Internet access. Further the management is very friendly and helpful. Since in the neighborhood is nothing, you should have an own car.

If you are located in Pretoria, Centurion or Johannesburg, I can recommend Trax Travel, if you like to perform a tour. Philip from Trax Travel drove us to Pilanesberg and Kruger National Park. He was very interested and is very familiar with both areas. Unfortunately, they have no website. But if you are interested, drop me a line and I will send you his contact details.

If you are looking for a shuttle or taxi in Cape Town, I can recommend Intercab.

Things, which I can not recommend in South Africa:

If you arrive at the OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, the usage of the Approved taxis. The cars are good, but not the fare is too expensive.

Since Thursday the new version 1.5 of the > Dojo Toolkit is available. The main improvement is a complete new theme, called Claro. Further, many Html5 and CSS3 features are supported. Some new projects for mobile apps are available, too. You get a good overview about the changes by reading the article > Dojo 1.5: Ready to power your web app on the SitePen website and by reading the > Release Notes. You can download the version on the > Dojo download page.

In the morning we arrived at OR Tampo in Johannesburg. From there a shuttle taxi brought us the the DFB Fan Village at the Tshwane Technical University. There we stayed at the Orion complex. After noon the fans met in the Fan Village marquee to join in the game against Ghana. During this, Gerald Assamoah, a german soccer player which was born in Ghana, visited the Fan Village. At 4 pm we drove by bus to the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. The game Germany against Ghana was not very well, but Germany have won 1:0 and qualified for the Round of 16. Afterwards we drove back to the Fan Village. In the night we realized that the nights are cold (sometimes below 0 degree celisus) and the rooms had no heating. So we have used three blankets in the nights.

In the morning we started a tour to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve by bus. Unfortunately, it was very cold in the morning and the bus had no heating, so we froze. In the evening we watched the game Chile against Spain in the Fan Village.

In the very early morning we started our bus trip to Bloemfontein to see the match Germany against England. We started at half past six and arrived at 1 pm in Bloemfontein. Their we went to the Loch Logan Waterfront mall near the Free State stadium where the English supporters celebrete the match. Joyful for us, Germany won 4-1 against England and the ‘second’ goal for England was historical. After the match we started at 7 pm with the bus trip back to the Fan Village in Pretoria. There we arrived at 3 am in the next morning. But the party in the Fan Village started and some supporters celebrated the victory until 8 am.

2010-06-28, Monday

In the morning we drove to the Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria. We picked up our tickets for the match Germany against Argentina in Cape Town. Afterwards we spent the day on the Fan Village. In the afternoon we drove to the Centurion Mall and ate at the Butcher Brothers Steakhouse restaurant. There we saw a few excerpts of the match Netherlands against Slovakia. Back in the Fan Village we saw the match Brazil against Chile. Since I predicted the result of 3:0 for Brazil, I won a replic of the final ball, called Jobulani.

2010-06-29, Tuesday

At noon we left the Fan Village and drove by car to a parking lot near the stadium. Today was the match Paraguay against Japan in Pretoria. We bought the tickets in February look forward to see a match Italy against Denmark or Cameroon. We never expected that Paraguay will win his group. We had tickets of category 1, so very good seats and saw the probably worst match of the World Cup. Before we went to the Loftus Versfeld stadium we went to a fan area near the stadium. There we ate in a restaurant. After the match we drove back to the Fan Village, where we saw the match Spain against Portugal on TV.

2010-06-30, Wednesday

In the early morning we rise up to welcome Ulli. Then we went to ate a ‘great’ breakfast. Unfortunately, the Ghana supporters left the university after the match against the USA, so it was very quite in the breakfast room.

2010-07-01, Thursday

Today it was a match-free day. Carsten and Ulli drove this day to Soweto by bus from the Fan Village. I decided to not go to Soweto, since I had problems with my bowel. So, I sat in the Internet cafe of the University and wrote e-mails and searched for accomodations in Durban, Sun City, Pretoria and to tours in Durban and Sun City. Later we decided not to went to Sun City after the final match, since the hotels are too expensive. In the late afternoon we drove to the Centurion Mall, where I bought something against my bowel problem. Further we ate at Butcher Brothers Steakhouse restaurant.

2010-07-02, Friday

We arrived at the airport half an hour before arrival time. At the airport a taxi from Randys Tours picked us up and brought us to our guest house 17 on Loader. Unfortunately, the taxi was more expensive as it was told us by the manager of our guest house. The guest house was more expensive than in Pretoria, but much nicer and not so cold in the night. So, we were happy that we decided to go to Cape town. Afterwards we went to an internet cafe to book our Durban accomodation and the flight from Durban to Johannesburg. After finished this we went to Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. There we went to the Quay 4 Tavern, where we ate and watched the match Netherlands against Brazil. In the evening we went to the Long Street, where we looked for a pub to watch the evening game Uruguay against Ghana. Unfortunately Ghana lost the dramatically match, so the vibe in the pub going down. We stoped a taxi from Intercab and drove to the guest house.

In the early morning we started our half-day tour to the Cape of Good Hope. We drove with the van (with 7 other people) to Simon’s Town, where Boulder’s Beach is. At the beach we left the van and visited the African Penguins. After that we drove to the southern Table Mountain National Park and Cape Point. Afterwards we drove back to Cape Town. In the afternoon we decided to went to the Table Mountain. Since we could not walked we tried to get a cheap taxi. But the weather was nice and many people had the same idea. So we waited about one hour to get into the cableway which brought us to the top of the mountain. After a snack on the bistro we drove down. For that we have waited another hour. In the evening we went to the Andiamo restaurant, which was located in the De Waterkant area near our guest house.

2010-07-05, Monday

In the early morning we started our tour to the vineyards near Cape Town. Our bus was a little bit late, but then we started. First we drove the Zevenwacht. After a short explanation and tour through the vine house it goes into the tasting room. After half a hour we left Zevenwacht and drove to a town, that name I have forgot. Then we drove to Tokara in Stellenbosch. After the visit we drove to Franschoek, where we could bought some chocolates at Huguenot Fine Chocolates. Then we drove to R… and then to Seidelberg. In the afternoon we was back at 17 Loader Street. After a stop we drove by taxi to The Ritz Hotel, which has a revolving rooftop restaurant. The dinner was good a pianist played during the time.

2010-07-06, Tuesday

In the morning we went to Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. At noon our taxi from Intercab brought us to the airport. With 230 Rand was the trip cheap instead of our trip from the airport to the guest house. I can recommend Intercab taxi. We drove with these taxi company twice, and it both fees were fair. Then we flight with Mango to Durban. It was a one hour and thirty minutes flight. At the airport in Durban we searched for a hotel or guest house at the Tourist information office. Unfortunately, they found not a hotel or guest house for us. So, we decided to drive to the Penney Holiday Flats room. First, the taxi driver did not found the Gillespie Street. As we found out later, several street names was changed some months before the World Cup started. Unfortunately the building with the flats make not a serious impression. So, we were glad, if we were in the flat on the 10th floor. Afterwards we went to the beach and ate something in the Mac Rib restaurant of the Garden Court Hotel, where we watched the first semi-final between Holland and Uruguay.

2010-07-07, Wednesday

It is the day of the semi-final Germany against Spain. We decided to went on the esplanade and prepare for the match in the evening. At Joe Cools the atmosphere was great and several Spanish and German supporters was there. After that we went to the stadium. After the lost match we went on the esplanade to the apartment. On the way we stopped at the life guard pub at the beach.

2010-07-08, Thursday

Unfortunately Germany lost the semi-final, so we were gloomy. Today, we went only on the esplanade. In the afternoon we went to the [xxx]

2010-07-09, Friday

In the early morning we started our tour to the Sani Pass and Lesotho. Since we do not had rent a car, we had a driver which brought us to Underberg, where we switched the cars and started the tour on the Sani Pass. The tour was powered by Thaba Tours. We paid 1.200 Rand for the tour. The other three participants had paid 1.800 Rand. In Lesotho we ate and drink something at the Sani Top Chalet, which is the highest pub in Africa. After the tour we went to the Hotel Garden Court at the Marine Parade to drink something.

2010-07-10, Saturday

In the early morning we were flewn from Durban to Johannesburg. Via taxi we arrived the A Lala Lodge in Centurion. Unfortunately we used an approved taxi from the airport, which was very expensive (550 Rand). Normally you pay between 300 and 350 Rand, said the manager of the lodge. From the Lodge we went to the Centurion Mall, where we ate in O’ Galitos and in the Butcher Brothers Steakhouse restaurant. Afterwards we drove by taxi to the lodge, where we watched the semi-final Germany against Uruguay in one of our rooms.

2010-07-11, Sunday

This was a leisure day. We didn’t do anything without playing soccer at the lodge parking area and read a book. In the evening we watched the final Netherlands against Spain in one of our rooms. The manager of the A Lala Lodge organized for us tours for the next days. On Monday to Pilanesberg and on Tuesday and Wednesday to Kruger National Park. Both would be arranged by Trax Travel.

The last days I have added my pictures from the South Africa trip to my > Flickr account. Since they are over 230 pictures, it was complex to add all titles and some descriptions. The travelogue is not finished today. I hope I can write it down this week.